Re: Video NOW: Discovery Channel, Cable ZAPPED

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Coyle, Thomas M." <tcoyle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

I'm 31. I grew up on Carl Sagan - the last true "popular voice" of genuine, 
authentic, accurate science. I owe my ambitions, hobbies, and profession to 
the dreams Cosmos planted in my head. It's a shame what's happened since then.

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Tesla list [mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent:	Sat Jun 04 19:21:04 2005
To:	tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject:	Re: Video NOW: Discovery Channel, Cable ZAPPED

Original poster: "Paul B. Brodie" <pbbrodie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

At first, I was surprised at the news that this show was on TV. I was
really looking forward to seeing something slightly interesting on
television. Then I read several of the posts on the list and I was brought
rudely back to earth. It's a sad fact that there is absolutely nothing
surprising about the misconceptions and bad "science" contained in this
television show. What does surprise me is that there are any shows about
real science on American TV of any kind. Unfortunately, for the past couple
of decades, there has been a strong anti-science/anti-intellectual movement
in the US. Even before I retired in 1998, people at work seldom if ever
discussed anything remotely like science. If I ever had the audacity to
attempt talking about fooling around with my electronics hobby or, heaven
forbid, Tesla Coils people would act as if I was crazy to have any kind of
interest in science or any of these sorts of things. Any discussions about
things scientific were simply taboo. The only discussions allowed in
"polite society" were about sports, love life, health, music, and
entertainment. It has only gotten worse since then, according to my wife.
My wife says that it has gotten so bad that she is openly criticized at
work for using "all of those big words!" My teenage sons say it is just as
bad at school! Oh well.
Paul
Think Positive

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <<mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <<mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2005 12:24 PM
Subject: Re: Video NOW: Discovery Channel, Cable ZAPPED

 > Original poster: "Mark Broker"
<<mailto:mbroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>mbroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 >
 > On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 01:54:23 -0600, Tesla list
<<mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
 >
 >>Original poster: "keith" 
<<mailto:keith.cc@xxxxxxxxxxx>keith.cc@xxxxxxxxxxx>
 >>
 >>I saw part one tonight and wasn't terribly impressed with it - I'm still
 >>an hv beginner but even I picked up on multiple semantic/factual errors
 >>- saying voltage can 'flow', using 'electricity' in place of 'current',
 >>and citing the 30kv/cm breakdown electric field value for point
 >>electrode discharges, which I'm pretty sure you can't do. I know it's
 >>meant for lay audiences, but errors like those irritate me when I've
 >>expended so much effort trying to learn electricity the 'right' way and
 >>get past such common misconceptions. The woman they had who was
 >>allegedly working on her phd in electrical engineering also did not seem
 >>to know much more about electricity than the stunt man. There were,
 >>however, some good shots of a fairly large coil operating, an impressive
 >>demonstration of electrical-storm independent atmospheric electric
 >>charge, and some glimpses of a large pulse discharge capacitor
 >>bank/charging apparatus. Just my (unsolicited) opinion.
 >>
 >>Keith C
 >
 > We were ranting about this last night already on our forums.... :p
 >
 > I was forced to turn it off partway through: I found the rhetoric and
 > dialog to be vastly more annoying than the egregious scientific errors.  My
 > wife, in the room down the hall, was wondering at one point why I was
 > screaming technobabble at the TV!  A welded joint does not need to
 > withstand "high voltage," it needs to withstand "high current;" the net
 > electric field inside a conductor is ZERO; voltage does not flow; etc....
 >
 > I would be surprised if either the woman was a degreed engineer of ANY
 > flavor, let alone a masters-level electrical engineer, or the guy with
 > glasses was a neurosurgeon (or perhaps just scientist/researcher).  If
 > indeed they weren't, certainly Discovery could have gotten more attractive
 > acting talent, like on MythBusters. :o)
 >
 > I will probably send them a polite-o-gram tonight pontificating upon their
 > egregious errors and kindly suggesting they consult "experts," like us
 > (many of us wouldn't even charge a consultation fee!), before they do their
 > next science side-show.
 >
 > Best regards,
 >
 > Mark Broker
 > The Geek Group
 >
 >
 >
 >